OFWs as Partners in Nation BuildingDaphne Ceniza-Kuok
Board Member, Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA)Erma Geolamin left her youngest son Romir when he was still an infant. She’s has visited her family eight times in the span of 15 years spent abroad. Each visit is limited to a span of 2 weeks each. During one of those visits, Erma found that her husband is sleeping with another woman, an embalmer and that all the funds that she has been regularly sending home to pay for the purchase of a property has been squandered. Erma’s sorrow was further aggravated when she found that her husband has already taken the P50, 000.00 payment of a debt that her in laws owed her.
It is a measure of Erma’s stoutness of spirit when she allowed her husband to accompany her to the airport and tell him that was the last time he can call her his wife. “Magsama na kayo ng embalmer mo! At least, libre ang serbisyo pag mamatay ka, sa akin ang abuloy!”
Erma drown all her sorrows by founding the Guimbal Filipino Workers Association. She spent her weekends helping her town mates from Guimbal and in writing articles on the life of domestic helpers in Hongkong. She cannot afford to wallow in self-pity, she has 6 mouths to feed and educate.
This is a story too common among migrant workers. I hope this will not make us callous to put aside the social cost of migration whenever we think of the remittances of migrant workers.
It was with some hesitation that I accepted PMRW’s invitation to talk on the issue of the OFW’s as partners in nation building. I found it difficult as years of working on issues related to their welfare and rights have shown me that OFW’s were never considered partners in progress but a convenient prop to ease the impact of government’s failure to alleviate the economic impact of its mismanagement of our economy. I strongly believe that OFW’s can never be partners in nation building as long as they are abroad, have no significant representation in the policy making process and are seen only in the light of the remittances they send to their relatives. The government’s has their minds set on relying on these remittances rather than looking into how our country can benefit more in getting them home with their newly acquired and developed and skills.
The country will surely miss out on their contribution to nation building as long as it deprives itself from benefiting from the experiences that overseas Filipinos gained abroad. The situation is that government is only focused on improving the migrant Filipino’s competitiveness in the foreign labor market rather than establishing jobs locally and giving incentives for our migrant workers to come home.
The tangibles such as providing sustenance to family members and their extended families, funding humanitarian projects, their contribution to increasing literacy through their ability to fund their children’s and relatives’ education and funding small and medium enterprises can never dilute the impact of the social cost of migration to our country and to our future
RemittancesThough remittances are a clear source of capital and resource that have helped millions of households in the Philippines, remittances will just be palliatives and will have no long term effect in economic growth unless its “ properly harnessed and leveraged and coupled with fiscal discipline and savings.”
These however are spent more on consumption than being used to increase productive capacity. Remittances are primarily spent on 1.) Basic household necessities (2.) Payment of debt contracted to underwrite migration expense (3.) Education of Children (4.) Medical expenses or emergencies (5.) Purchase of land, or home construction or improvement (6.) Purchase of appliances and other durables (7.) Savings and investments in small enterprises is limited to 5%.
While small enterprises accounts for 90% of business establishments in the Philippines, most of these enterprises fail because of the lack of “financial literacy of migrants and family members”. Most OFWs end up with nothing when they come home because of their inability to save while being employed abroad. It is unfortunate, that some OFW’s are forced to leave home again after their savings have run out.
Reintegration program set by NGO’s and government are disjointed and disorganized and are mostly limited to the setting up of cooperatives which are often mismanaged. We should go beyond the sari-sari store mentality by including OFW’s in the national development program.
“Migrants savings, investments and philanthropy programs must have the economies of scale and critical mass to have a significant effect on development”. Remittances estimated to be between 7.6 billion dollars to double the figure every year would have gone a long way even if only a fraction were invested to promote development initiatives.
Some overseas Filipinos have been proposing for the passage of an overseas “Filipino Investment Incentive Act” to encourage migrant Filipinos to invest their savings on ventures that will have a lasting impact on the economy.
Tax incentives should be given to businesses started by OFW’s, the same way that sweeteners such as tax incentives, assured return of investment are being given to foreign investors. Government should find ways to push for an investment program that do not require huge capital expenditure and has less risk to encourage OFWs to invest their hard earned monies. Unfortunately, many of our OFW’s saving are siphoned by numerous investment scheme created by scrupulous individuals who are out there to fleece OFWs of their hard earned money. The government can only be assured of migrants’ confidence in investing in the Philippines when it establishes a strong support system for their investments, address the various regulatory and practical barriers and gaps that hinder the flow of remittances and other migrant resources to be used for strategic economic purposes and putting to maximum used, the various levels of financial institutions, government agencies and civil society organizations. Various infrastructures needed in order to pave the way for development must be established such as efficient and cheap electricity, better roads and communication facilities. OFW resources might be even tapped to fund the establishment of this infrastructure.
Some OFWs are even advocating on buying from our creditors debt papers at a discount considering that these loans are almost worthless. Mike Bolos a financial consultant based in Riyadh is proposing that OFWs buy these at 25 cents to the dollar wherein millions of overseas Filipinos can pool in their resources and buy them up.
“Inasmuch as the debts are sovereign debts, they are guaranteed by the Republic of the Philippines and we are hopeful the country will not turn against its own citizens. This win-win situation will enable overseas Filipino investors to receive interest periodically while the country’s economy will benefit tremendously because the interest that was being paid outside the country before will now remain inside that can provide fuel to boost the economy.”
Returning OFWs
The experiences gained from an OFW’s exposure abroad could be used to improve the work ethic in the country. Overseas Filipino Workers have been tested and strengthened by the difficulties, trials and challenges they faced abroad. They come home enriched by their experiences. Their exposure to the efficiency of systems in more advanced countries will enable them to apply what they have learned from abroad. They have developed a work ethic that allowed them to shine away from home. Many Filipinos excelled and are recognized in their fields abroad though no one knows them on home grounds.
We hear of the heroic deeds of Nestor Sulpico, the honest taxi driver in New York and the couple who returned a huge amount which was erroneously credited to their bank account, Leah Salonga’s grand slam in the Tony’s, Olivier, Drama Desk etc. awards, Josie Natori of the high fashion lingerie fame, Cesar Gaupo, the Filipino designer of Shanghai Tang and Rafe Totengco the bag designer who is hailed for his Rafe bags in New York.
Eduardo Manalac was a recipient of the most outstanding foreigner award in China in 2001. He was the head a company that discovered one of the biggest oil source find in China. He came home after retirement to serve at the PNOC. However not so many outstanding Filipinos are given incentives, encouragement to come home and serve.
The news that we read in the Internet is very discouraging. The never ending exposes on corruption where no one has yet been convicted, the “Padrino” system that continues to inflict itself on our people have made many of us opt for the more peaceful scenery abroad or risk our lives in Iraq. Our brightest minds have gone in masse.
Participation of Migrants in Civil Society and Good Governance
The strengthening of civil societies among Filipino organizations abroad has given us hope that there will come a time when overseas Filipinos can create enough pressure to move government into giving what was due to its people. The effect of information technology in linking migrants abroad can be harnessed to enhance, encourage migrants’ participation in government.
EDSA 2 started the buzz when e-groups were created to organize overseas Filipinos and to make Manila feel the sentiment of Filipinos overseas. ELAGDA became the center for mobilizing thousands of socially concerned overseas Filipinos into sending tons of position papers, petition letters to Manila, one senator tried to find her way out by saying that we’re “wasting people’s money” when we jammed her fax machine with our petitions.
We impressed one legislator when she got a text message at the session hall right after a motion unfavorable to our position was mentioned during the deliberation of the Overseas Absentee Voting Bill. We made them feel our interest on the issue during visits to the senate and congress during home leave.
The Hongkong experience showed us what could have been, if government is able to inspire its citizens to be involved and a community is vigilant and are willing to contribute to realize its goals. Hongkong had the biggest voter’s turnout with 63% of its registered voters voting during the voting period. Overseas Filipinos in Hongkong have deepened their understanding on the law through constant discussions on its various provisions and have actively given their inputs particularly in pushing for on site counting of the votes and the establishment of satellite registration centers. Those were memories that returning Filipinos could bring home with them and will serve as an inspiration for them to be involved in issues confronting our country.
The noise when the OWWA Omnibus Policies was rammed through our throats without consultation has once again shown the potential of OFW organizations abroad as a fiscalizing agent of government.
While many overseas Filipinos have given up on the country there are still many who continue to be involved. These are manifested on the many e-groups and organizations that has sprouted all over the world since then. To name a few, there is the International Coalition for Overseas Filipinos Voting Rights (ICOFVR), KASAPI Congress, OFW-Vote, Filcoyan, Talsik, and Global Filipinos. A government will be deemed wise when it draws upon its migrants’ wealth of experience and tap their potentials in promoting good government.
The Effect of Returning Filipinos on the National PsycheToday, we mourned the fact that many of our professionals have become the domestic helpers, caregivers and entertainers of the world. Globalization has increased our woes. We have to struggle to keep our competitiveness. We had the edge in the labor market because we started sending our workers ahead of the rest. This edge will slowly be eroded as other sources of migrant labor emerge and travel becomes cheaper and more convenient. There will always be someone undercutting our migrant workers.
One can just imagine how things will be when no one is forced to go abroad for the survival of one’s family. I can just imagine the day when Filipino passports will no longer be scrutinized more stringently than other passports. We will rejoice on that day when we see no families breaking up because of the migration of a family member and children growing up with out parental control.
This is the day when we can say, “we can do it all”.
To this day, migrant Filipinos remain marginalized, a convenient prop whenever government is desperate in boosting its image.
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This Paper was presented at the World Conference of OFWs 2004. December 16-18, 2004. Bayview Park Hotel, Manila.
Source:
PINOY-ABROAD.NETSources:
1. Sec. Patricia Sto.Thomas, “Overseas Filipinos Workers in the National Development Agenda: The Government’s Perspective” 27 June, 2003
2. Enhancing the Efficiency of Overseas Workers remittances.
3. I.F. Bagusao, Migration and Development “The Philippine Experience” Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos ERCOF, Philippine Migration Data;
4. R.T. David, OFWs as Partners in Nation Building
